A nanny & an educator, all in one!

Sorry, that loud noise was me tooting my own horn.

(I kid.)

Anyway, I spent this past week with two sick kiddos and a lot of time to fill with activities that would be stimulating for them, and allow me a few moments to recharge.

I found a set of wooden letters amongst the copious amounts of toys and decided to have the 4yr old find the letters to spell some basic 3 letter words.

This activity helped with his letter recognition, spelling, & reading, and took all of 2 minutes to set up.

Oh, and it kept him busy for about 30 minutes ツ

Then, for the little guy (18months), I created a simple "toy" to help his fine motor skills further develop. I think I had seen something on Pinterest with pipe cleaners and color matching, but since they didn't have pipe cleaners (and the skills to really match colors, yet) I adapted the idea.

I took an old bread crumbs container, poked a few holes in the lid and grabbed a handful of un-sharpened pencils and Q-tips.

I started him with the pencils, since they are larger and easier to hold and then added in a few Q-tips as we went along. 

To say he LOVED this activity would be an understatement. It was a HUGE success with him and he just kept wanting me to open the lid, dump out the supplies, and let him "play" again. He would smile and giggle every time. It was pretty adorable.

Here's to keeping the kiddos engaged!

-N